


to the Moon and Back

by Grasple



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Action, Adventure, Gen, Kaito is a himbo, Romance, references to the first two DR games, video games - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:00:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26891056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grasple/pseuds/Grasple
Summary: Kaito Momota; Wannabe astronaut and recently moved to the region of Galar. A region with unfamiliar pokémon, unfamiliar trainers, and a champion he’s sworn to beat.
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 5
Kudos: 15





	1. Broken Dreams are the Shards of Reality

The sun was high and hot, a radiant blue that expanded for miles across. Kaito hummed as he leaned against the wall of the house, looking into the clear blue. He reached up to pet the ralts relaxing on his shoulder. The Pokémon chirped in glee and grabbed onto his finger, pulling it closer. 

“Kaito!” Kaede smacked his shoulder, “You’re blanking out. Even though the ride here was exhausting, we still have to unpack.” 

“Hey, you’re not making Shuichi do anything! Besides, it’s a beautiful day out and it’s not often we’ll get to enjoy it.” Kaito grumbled, sending a quick glance to Shuichi who was standing behind Kaede at the door, “And he’s the one who’s packed the most things.” 

“Shuichi and I have already unpacked most of the furniture. We just have to bring the couch in and we’re done. I need you,” she poked Kaito in the chest, “to unpack the kitchen utensils. Shuichi’s going to make dinner and he needs them out. Please get to it!” 

Shuichi scratched the back of his neck, “It’s not really a big deal Kaede, I can do it myself.”

Kaito straightened up and stretched out, gently placing his ralts on the ground, which then scurried into the house. “No need Shuichi, I’ve got it! You should get rested since you’ve got things to do tomorrow.”

Shuichi held the door as Kaito and Kaede walked inside, closing it behind him. The house was small and didn’t have much furniture. 

“Yeah, alright! I got you covered, leave it to me!” Kaito pointed to himself and grinned. “After all, this regions’ future champion shouldn’t have to unpack! You should be worried about training that Turtwig for the gym challenge!” 

Kaito went into the kitchen and began to open boxes. Silverware, plates, bowls, mixing spoons. Damn, if he was putting this away it would probably be better if he wiped the cabinets and drawers out beforehand. He walked over to a box in the corner of the room and opened it, grabbing a kitchen towel and taking it to the sink. After dousing it in water, he scrubbed out the cabinets. Looking at the towel which was now covered in cobwebs and dust, he grimaced. Ah well, he figured, I just have to do the drawers, no need for a new towel. 

As he opened a drawer, he noticed an army of small, baby joltics. 

Kaito did not like bugs. 

“Kaede–!” He screamed out, jumping back as one of the small joltik got a bit too close. Kaede peeked her head into the room and looked disappointingly at Kaito. 

“Kaito,” she calmly took the cloth and wiped out the drawer, “They’re only joltik, and small ones at that. It’s once they’re larger you have cause for concern. They’re too small to even scratch you right now.”

Kaede placed the cloth in the sink and gave it a rinse, “You’ve really got to get over this. If you want to have serious Pokémon battles you can’t be afraid of bug types.” She squeezed his shoulder, “It’s alright to dislike them, just don’t let it get bigger than you.” 

Kaede walked out of the room and Kaito went to put the silverware away. At least the joltik were gone. “Just get over it, huh.” Kaito sighed to himself, rubbing his forehead, “Man, wish I could.” 

Kaito continued to open boxes and sort through items until he came across something that didn’t quite fit. He picked it up to look closer, and smiled. It was an old picture of his old homeroom class. His old friends were speckled with dust, the frame was cracked and the picture was crinkled in the corner, but that didn’t matter much. It reeked of home. Kaede and Maki were posing together, Korekiyo was reluctantly letting Miu and Kokichi put their arms over his shoulders. Angie was reaching over Himiko to braid Gonta’s hair. Tenko was laughing with Rantaro. Kirumi was trying to fix Shuichi’s hair. Ryoma was staring at the camera. Kaito was letting Tsumugi cross-stitch a pattern onto his coat. Kiibo’s hand was on the border doing a peace sign, unable to be fully in the picture without messing up the picture he was trying to take. 

God, everyone was happy. Kaito knew that things couldn’t go back to that, and maybe it would be for the best, but there’s always that lingering piece of bitterness. That remnant of something you don’t want to think about. The betrayal of time. 

It’s best not to think about that, of course. Kaito went back to putting the kitchenware away, putting the photo on the counter for later. Once he was finished, he wandered into the livingroom absentmindedly, seeing Shuichi and Kaede on the couch. He sat down next to them, not paying attention to what was on the screen. “What are you watching?”

Shuichi got up, “Champion matches, after all I’m going to have to know his strategy if I want to beat him. Anyways,” he yawned and stretched, “I’m going to go make fries or something.” Before Shuichi left, Kaede got up and gave him a little kiss on the bridge of his nose

“Don’t burn the house down.” Shuichi got flustered and awkwardly strutted out of the room. 

Kaito got up too, “I’m heading outside. I hear we scored a nice look of the sunset here. I’m going to check it out.”

Kaede laughed, “Alright, you want a kiss too?” 

“I’m good,” He laughed, “besides, I don’t think Shuichi would like that very much.” 

“Okay, also I was thinking we could go down to the wild area tomorrow, Shuichi needs more Pokémon in order to stand any sort of chance at the championship tournament. That cool with you?”

“Yeah, my schedule is free.”

Kaito opened the door and the cool evening breeze wafted into the house. He stepped outside and took a deep breath. There was a bench sitting outside the house, old and rusted but what did that matter. He sat down and started to wonder, “Man, what am I gonna do with my life.” 

Kaito was not a leader. He was like the second in command, really. He didn’t like making choices, he preferred to help people make their choices. I mean, he was helping Shuichi become champion, he helped Kaede decide to be a Pokémon researcher, but when it came to himself? He wanted to go to space. An unachievable goal. Nobody cared about making it out there, hell there hasn’t even been anyone on the moon. The allure of the unknown isn’t well funded, especially when you have Pokemon that can basically do anything. There was simply no reason to go out there. No organizations, no specific classes, nothing. Some things just aren’t meant to be. 

Ah well, he could always be a marine biologist, maybe make it to the bottom of the ocean. That’s basically the same, right? Kaito put his head in his hands. Man, this was hopeless. 

“Kaito?” Kaito turned around, seeing Shuichi standing behind him. “Kaede told me you were out here. Is everything alright?” 

Kaito hummed to himself, “I just don’t know what to do with myself. You’ve got your championship, Kaede’s got her research. What do I have? A pointless dream and what else? It’s just,” he sighed, “I have to figure out what to do. I don’t want to be left behind.” 

Shuichi sat next to him, tapping his fingers on his knees. “I don’t think you need to know everything right now. You’re only eighteen, you’ve got a life ahead of you. You could get a higher education, you could become a Pokémon trainer. You could do research like Kaede. You could probably become a professor if you put your mind to it, but if you end up becoming Galar’s professor I’d expect Kaede to be a little judgy.” 

Shuichi started biting at his nails, “You have time to decide.” He paused, “And whatever you do choose, you can always change it. Nothing is permanent.” Shuichi stood up, reaching a hand out to Kaito. “We can go further. The sky is not the limit. Kaito… you want to go to space, right?” 

“Shuichi, there’s no science behind that, it’s a pointless endeavo—”

“Didn’t you tell me that nothing was impossible? Why doesn’t that apply to you?”

“Shuichi–”

“No buts! If there aren’t any scientists looking into it, be the first! Or don’t, do whatever you want!”

Kaito finally took Shuichi’s hand and stood up. “Yeah, I don’t need to know everything right now. After all, I’m going to be way too focused making you the newest champion!” He grinned, “I’ll train my ralts to be the best he can be, and I’ll win again and again so that you always have a challenge!”

Shuichi smiled softly, before his face dropped. “The fries!” He exclaimed, running back into the house. 

Kaito sat back down on the bench. The sky grew dark in drowsiness as the sun prepared for sleep. The door of the house opened again and Kaede leaned on the bench beside Kaito. “Nice talk?”

“Yeah.”

Kaede slapped his back, and the two of them headed inside for the night. Kaito wandered into the room that would be his. He didn’t unpack any of his things, and frankly he didn’t want to. His ralts was picking things up and putting them around the room. Kaito patted his head and grabbed a blanket from a nearby box. There would be time to unpack tomorrow. He threw a pillow onto the floor and lay on the floor. His ralts curled up against his side and the two drifted off into a dreamless slumber.


	2. New Encounters Signal New Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A moue (pronounced; moo) is an expression which is a mix of a grimace and a pout.

Kaito woke up to the sound of rookidee chirping outside, the sound being carried into the room through the slightly cracked window. Kaito’s ralts was circled up on the windowsill, watching Pokémon fly by. Kaito curled up into his blankets, immediately greeted by a sharp pain in his back. Damn, though he supposed it was his punishment for sleeping on the bare floor. He got up and stretched out, yawning. 

The smell of pancakes wafted through the room, leading Kaito to the kitchen where Shuichi was making pancakes. Kaede was leaning back in her chair, resting her legs on the table. She had a plate of pancakes on her lap and was holding some sort of article. Shuichi’s Turtwig was standing in the middle of the table, happily munching on a bowl of cut up pancakes. 

Kaito pulled out a chair and sat down, “Do people even read newspapers anymore?” 

Kaede didn’t even look up at him, “This isn’t a newspaper, it’s a study that was just published. It’s on the behavioural differences between Pokémon who were born in normal environments and Pokémon that were born in dens containing great amounts of dynamax energy.”

“I have no idea what that means, but awesome!” Kaito went to give her a high five. 

Kaede did not reciprocate. Kaito put his hand back down. Shuichi reached over and put a plate of pancakes in front of Kaito, sitting down at the table as well. Kaito took a bite, “So, when are we leaving?” 

“Kaede said we would leave after breakfast. We have to leave early because I need to get back in time for my cooking class. We’ve already packed our bags, we’re just waiting on you.”

“Well then, we can leave as soon as we’re done! I always have my bag packed and stocked up!” 

The three of them finished their pancakes and started on their way down to East Lake Axewell, heading past the Pokecentre and down the stairs. Once at the bottom, Shuichi abruptly stopped. 

…!

There was something wriggling in the grass by the lakeside, rocking the blades back and forth. If you didn’t pay enough attention you may mistake it for the wind, but upon closer inspection there was certainly something else. 

“I’m going to go check that out.” Shuichi started to walk over to the rustling grass, before Kaede stopped to grab his arm

“It’s probably a wild pokémon. I’d suggest you be careful, even small ones can get you pretty bad.” Shuichi shrugged off her hand and went to investigate anyway, Kaito and Kaede following close behind. Upon closer inspection, the rustling was coming from a small grubbin, twitching and writhing on its back. Kaito grimaced at the sight of the bug. Shuichi carefully reached a hand out, before Kaede gently grasped it. “Be careful, it may hurt you. It’s probably scared and confused as is.” 

“I’ll be careful, Gonta taught me how to do this. Grubbin have a tendency to get stuck like this, there’s a small trick to it.” With the flick of a hand, Shuichi gently flipped the grubbin upright. “Yeah see, it’s okay now.” 

“Shuichi, watch out!” A flash of light and a metagross was beside him, slashing at a corvisquire that seemed to come out of nowhere. The corvisquire screeched, laying its sights onto the grubbin. The grubbin was trembling slightly, taking refuge under Shuichi’s hand. The metagross let out a huge blast of power, hitting the corvisquire and knocking it out. Kaede walked to the huge metagross, “Good job Babey, good boy!” She gently caressed the huge pokémon, and it murmured in delight. 

“Ah, thanks Kaede…” Shuichi said abashedly, “I don’t know how I missed that…” The grubbin nibbled at Shuichi’s hand. Shuichi chuckled, gently pushing it into the grass. “You’re safe now, go on.” The grubbin did not move out into the grass, instead choosing to look at Shuichi with big, sad eyes. 

Shuichi stood up, looking to the others. “We should head out farther, being this close to the gate makes it unlikely to encounter pokémon.” Shuichi started to leave, but a small tap at the back of his foot caught his attention. Looking down, the grubbin from before was rubbing up against his leg. 

”You know,” Kaede started, “you’ve already got a new friend here. Why not catch it?” 

Shuichi looked down at the grubbin, which in turn looked directly at him. Its eyes were wide, almost sparkling in the sunlight. He leaned down, reaching a hand out towards it. The grubbin tried to climb onto his hand, however it fell back onto the ground, and let out a small growl. It attempted this many times, before eventually giving up and settling for leaning on Shuichi’s thigh. “I don’t know,” Shuichi frowned, “It looks young, and I don’t want to take it away from home.” 

Kaito, though disgusted by the creature, looked at Shuichi in disbelief. “You really think you’d be taking it? It’s practically begging to come with you. Of course if I were a pokémon,” Kaito looked smugly, “of course I’d want to be the pokémon of the champion.” 

Shuichi took out a pokéball with uncertainty, holding it out to the grubbin. The grubbin backed up and Shuichi looked disappointed, but soon enough it headbutted the button in the center of the ball. It opened, and the grubbin was sucked in. The ball hovered in midair, shaking a bit, before it dropped onto the ground and rolled. The ball clicked, signifying the capture of the bug. Shuichi picked up the ball, and held it close to his chest. “What will I name you…” Pulling up his pokédex and quickly linking it to the ball, he saw the gender of the grubbin was female. A small screen popped up containing a keyboard, and Shuichi stood there. 

Kaede looked over his shoulder. “Why are you hesitating there?”

“I don’t know what to name it…” 

Kaito put his hand on his chin, thinking. “Well, it’s a bug, so maybe something like ‘Legs’, you know, because bugs have lots of legs!” He gave a thumbs up while Kaede and Shuichi both gave a moue. Kaito frowned, “Point taken.” 

Kaede put her finger on her lip, “Why don’t you name it after one of those characters you like! What are they from again, erm… Dragon Romper?” 

“Kaede you have watched the entire series with me I know that you know the name.” 

“Darn of Tron Ra!” She exclaimed.

“Dang it Roamer!” Kaito joined in. 

“Dangle Grandpa!”

“Danger Romper!”

“You guys… are the worst.” 

Kaito laughed, “Lighten up a bit, we know the name.” 

“I’m not going to name it after a fictional character.”

“I don’t know,” Kaede giggled, “doesn’t she look like a Sayaka?” 

With hesitation, Shuichi typed out ‘Sayaka’ into the keyboard on the pokédex. “Done.” 

Kaito clapped his hands together. “Well then, why don’t you try that new Pokémon out in a battle with me?!” Kaito grabbed the pokéball off of his belt and tossed it, his ralts landing on its feet. It cried out, expecting a battle. 

Shuichi threw out his turtwig, “You’re on!” 

“Ralts, double team!” Ralts charged towards turtwig, multiple ralts suddenly appearing out of thin air. The ralts started to run in random directions, causing the original one to be lost. Turtwig looked around at the different copies, and sent out leaves to swirl around them. The leaves cut the copies down to nothing, but the original ralts sent a wave of psychic energy to hit the turtwig from behind. Turtwig tried to tackle the ralts, but his vision was blurry and he accidentally rammed into the ground. Ralts finished with a draining kiss, making turtwig fall unconscious. 

Kaito yelled out to Shuichi, “You have to give your Pokémon directions, you have to remember that they can't see the whole battlefield like you can. A Pokémon battle is not a place where only the Pokémon think, you have to, too!” 

“R-Right!” Shuichi bashfully sent out Sayaka, who rolled over feebly once on the field. She propped herself up quickly, waiting for directions. “Sayaka, string shot!” Sayaka sent out a string of web, which narrowly missed ralts, instead landing on Kaito’s shoe. 

Kaito looked down at his shoe in disgust, wiping it frantically on the ground, “Get it off get it off get it off!” 

Sayaka went in to bite ralts, who took it and sent a beam of psychic power at Sayaka. Sayaka was forced backwards and stumbled over herself for a second, before regaining composure. “Sayaka, vise grip!” Sayaka wobbled over to ralts and roughly bit into him with her pincers. Ralts cried out, in pain but still determined. 

Kaito, who has now gotten the web off of his shoe, looked at the scene. “Oh shit! Ralts! Confusion!” Ralts sent a blast at Sayaka, hitting her dead on. Even though they were both weak and tired, neither of them were done quite yet. 

“Sayaka, string shot again!” Sayaka shot more web at ralts, Kaito flinching. The string hit and ralts’ movement was slowed. Sayaka went in to bite him once more, but right before she could, ralts sent out a psybeam. Sayaka fell onto her side, but failed to get up. She had been knocked out. 

Shuichi ran over to help her, grabbing a revive from his bag and holding it to her face. She sniffed it, and chomped into it upon her awake. Kaito took out some potions from his bag and sprayed them onto ralts’ wounds. Ralts chirped at him in glee and ran over to Sayaka, and the two of them playfully tumbled together. 

“Yeah!” Kaito yelled, “I’m the best, unbeatable!” He pointed at Kaede, “I could even take you down right now!” 

Kaede chuckled, “Now?” 

Kaito jumped into the air, “Yeah! Ralts, go!”

“Babey, go!” 

Kaede’s metagross was sent out of the ball, towering high above ralts. Ralts looked determined despite his small size, looking forward to battling his opponent. 

“Babey, pursuit!” Babey swung hard at ralts, knocking him back a few meters. Ralts failed to get back up. 

“Well then Kaito, what was that about unbeatable?” 

Kaito was kneeling on the ground, holding his chest with his other hand on the ground. “I’m a failure.” 

The trio laughed, before Shuichi coughed. “I think Kaede and I should head back. I have a cooking class and she said she would come with me today.”

Kaito looked at them questioningly, “I don’t remember you guys having a deal like that.” 

Kaede laughed, “Oh, well, I promised because he doesn’t like going places alone. You know, standard Shuichi!” 

“Oh, I could come too, it sounds like fun.” 

Kaede waved her hand at him, “Oh no, no it’s fine. Besides, you should catch some Pokémon. Shuichi already has two, you don’t want to, uh, fall behind.” 

“Oh, alright, have fun at the class then!” Kaito waved at the two departing. Now, where to go? He could always head back, but there’s no fun in that. There was a tower to his left, tall and broken and menacing. There’s no way there weren’t cool Pokémon there! And with that, he was on his way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The struggle of wanting to use uncommon or long words and not wanting to sound like a pretentious asshole. The dilemma of man.


	3. Acquaintances Open the Doors of Opportunity

Kaito wandered through the tall grass, stomping his feet and running his hands through the blades trying to find something. Maybe it was his loud rustling or his floundering through the plants, but Kaito couldn’t seem to find any Pokémon.  
A flutter in the corner of his eyes and he whipped his head around to see what it was. Purple frantically whipped around in the grass, grabbing Kaito’s attention immediately. Silently stalking, or at least silent by Kaito standards, he sneaked up on the unidentified pokémon, seeing a very small and lost-looking Noibat.  
Confused, Kaito checked his pokédex, graciously gifted to him by Kaede. Looking in the natural pokémon found in the watchtower ruins, his suspicions were confirmed that this noibat did not belong here. The poor thing was probably lost and confused, and while Kaito did really want to catch it, it wouldn’t do any good scaring it any further. With a disheartened sigh, Kaito leaned over the noibat, watching it intently but not raising a hand towards it. Shuichi had taught him that sudden movements would only get him hurt, or rather his turtwig did.  
Speaking softly to the lost pokémon, he gently called out, “Hey there buddy, you lost?”  
The noibat flapped its wings harder at the realization a person was observing it, but calmed down when it realized that Kaito was not moving. The noibat lay defeated in the grass, its wings laying on the ground in an awkward position. Its left wing was bent and crooked in the wrong places, clearly broken. Kaito couldn’t help but pity the tiny thing, but he wasn’t certain what to do in this situation. He could try calling Kaede and Shuichi, but it would be a shame to interrupt Shuichi’s cooking classes. He reached out a hand tenderly towards the small creature, but stopped when it started crying and shaking in fright.  
What was he supposed to do? Was he just going to have to leave it? What if it died? What if somebody hurt it? What if–  
“Is there something wrong over here?” Kaito turned around to see who had asked him the question, and when he turned he saw a tall man with light purple hair and the ugliest cape Kaito had ever seen in his life. The sun glowed off the man’s darker skin, catching on the design of his shirt, making a slight glare that made it hard to read.  
Kaito slowly stood up, “Nothing wrong with me, but I can’t say the same for this little fellow.” Kaito gestured towards the noibat who was lying still on the ground, wide, curious eyes staring up at the two men. “I think the little guy broke his wing, but I don’t know enough about pokémon to do anything.”  
“Why not just take it to the Pokémon centre?” The mysterious stranger inquired, “It’s just over… uh, it’s somewhere around.”  
Kaito looked at the man closer, looking for something telling. There on his hand, the tell-tale mark of a pokémon trainer, a glove used to help with grip when throwing a ball. “You don’t know where the pokémon centre is? Aren't you a trainer?” It was better to ask, maybe it was a fashion statement or something.  
“Ah but I’m no good with directions.”  
Kaito didn’t know how to respond. How bad a trainer did you have to be to not even know where the pokémon centre is? What a rude thought, maybe the man simply was bad with directions, but you’d think he’d get a map. Oh well, there were more pressing matters at hand.  
“How do you think I should get this fella to a doctor?”  
The stranger laughed, “Why not try catching the bugger?”  
Repressing a shudder at the mere mention of bugs, Kaito turned towards the frightened noibat. Maybe it would be best to capture him, just for now. He could always put him back later, in his proper habitat. Catching it would be easy, with how weak it was in its condition. He pulled a pokéball out of his bag, looking at the noibat. He gently tossed it, hitting it on the head with a slight ‘bonk’ sound that made him cringe. The creature was sucked into the ball and it fell to the ground, shaking once, twice, and once again. The pokéball let out a small click, signifying the capture.  
He picked it up, holding it close to him. He would just heal him up and quickly return him. In the meantime, however…  
Kaito sharply turned towards the mysterious stranger who kindly helped him out. “You’re a pokémon trainer! Battle me!” He cried out, determined.  
Without a single word, his opponent sent out a small… green… something? Kaito had never seen a pokémon like that before. It seemed to have orange ears shaped like rounded triangles, and a stick it stuck through its head.  
No matter, Kaito sent out his ralts, prepared for any battle to come his way.  
“Grookey, pound!” The green creature sprinted towards his ralts, before smacking it atop the head.  
Before Kaito could even issue a command, his ralts fell to the ground.  
“Hey! No fair! That’s some kind of magic Kung-Fu guy!”  
The man laughed, “You really don’t know who I am, do you?”  
Kaito faltered. Was he supposed to? Was this guy important? No, no that’s impossible. Kaito would know. He’s probably some local hero or something.  
“The name’s Leon. I’m the champion of Galar.”  
What.  
Kaito was a fool.  
Of course he would immediately choose to battle the champion of the region, of course he wouldn’t even know who the champion was.  
“Anyways,” the stranger, Leon, champion Leon, said, “I should probably get back to travelling. I have to prepare for the upcoming challenge, yeah!” Leon threw one closed fist in the air, “It’s champion time!”  
The words escaped his mouth before he even thought. “I know somebody who’s gonna kick your ass.”  
Leon laughed, “I love the enthusiasm! Keep it up and I see a bright future for you!” Leon turned around, throwing his cape in the air as he did so. What gave him the right to look like that, all smug and– Kaito shouldn’t think about this. After all, he had training to do. If this was how powerful the champion is, Shuichi needed a lot of help.  
Turning on his heel, Kaito determinedly walked his way back to motostoke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter for now but I do plan on having the next one be longer, with two “new” characters being introduced!! Please do be patient with my updates, I have school getting in the way as well as I am working on another work which will hopefully be ready soon!


End file.
